Chapter 593: Caesar vs Sultan Final
"We have known the bitterness of defeat and the exultation of triumph, and from both we have learned there can be no turning back. We must go forward to preserve in peace what we won in war."
- Douglas Macarthur Victory Speech
"Where is our Venetian friend Don Vittoria Contarini?"
"Go find him! Now!"
"And withdraw some troops to the beaches, summon all the sentries, call the Venetian reinforcements!"
The Sultan felt his hands and teeth shaking violently, for he knows that those ships are definitely hundred percent plus chop not owned by the Genoese, there can only be one faction of power that owns the ability to organise such a huge fleet and wonder so deep into the Aegean, that is his rival still standing beneath him Antonius De’Ricci.
The Sultan could no longer bother motivating the morales of the Ottoman troopers trapped inside the remaining fortresses, instead he ran down the walls, got on his mount, and went all the way back to rally his janissaries.
The Venetian friend, Vittoria Contarini, is of course nowhere to be found, for he has already fled the scene the moment he received this piece of news. He is here to exploit interests out of the Sultan’s possible victory and create new colonies on the lands of Thessaly, not here to give his lives away, for he knows that the Sultan might not dare to mistreat him under any circumstances, but these Greeks will definitely peel him alive if he falls into their hands.
It is naïve for anyone to believe that they can rely on any external powers for security, the Sultan knows this as well, but he has no other choice but to subsidise his state’s naval defence to the Venetians, and after years of service he grew a sense of ’trust’ in his mind for the Venetians believing that they would actually protect his naval boundaries, but of course, the Venetians would not do anything that is against their interests, or carry out a task that has more harm than gains, such as fighting a naval battle with the Greeks in the Aegean that may very much potentially benefit the Genoese.
But it is already too late, for the directions of the winds and the conditions of the seas are in favour of the fleet.
The formidable fleet, consisting of over a hundred ships, forcefully crashed through the waves towards the shore. Despite the challenging winds, the determined sailors rowed with all their might, guiding the ships to a thunderous halt upon the rocky and sandy beach. The ships groaned under the strain, their hulls scraping against the Earth. The side planks were lowered, allowing mounted cavalries to eagerly leap onto the boards and ride onto the long-awaited land. They swiftly scoured the area, eliminating any potential Ottoman messengers. Meanwhile, the infantry disembarked from the boats, forming smaller groups on the land, assuming defensive positions to remain vigilant against any possible Ottoman ambush.
Although the Ottomans were now disorganized and exhausted after a gruelling night of combat, the Sultan continued issuing orders, prompting troops to withdraw from the encirclement and defend their rear. This strategic move considerably lightened the burden on Helios and Antonius, while the Ottomans on the front, knowing by the instinct of a soldier that there are definitely something going on at their back, started paying less attention to their direct battlefield, allowing the troops of Antonius and Helios to catch their breathe.
Antonius, as an experienced commander in field, caught this change, and by common sense he knows that the Ottomans must have been pressured from another side, meaning that the plan has worked. Without further thoughts he pushed away the guards squeezed around him, and leapt onto the enemies with a roar, raising his blade high above his head slashing it right down towards an ill defended Ottoman trooper, chopping his head off with his eyes widened like a bell, full of disbelief. The blood splattered out from the collapsing corpse, and again giving Antonius a good shower with blood painting half of his face red, but he cannot afford to stop and wipe his face clean, for no one will ever know what might happen on the next split second.
The Caesar of the Romans, continued slashing his blade right and left right in front of the Ottoman formations, forcing the Ottomans to gather around him. The sturdy armours of the Caesar provided some valued protection against enemy attacks, still it occasionally brings him some bruises and cuts on unprotected parts like his face and limbs, which, when accumulated up from the entire night, still caused a substantial amount of damage to the mental and physical health of the Caesar. The guards soon hurried up to continue scattering around the Caesar fending off attacks from the sides. While the rest of the troopers, seeing that their Caesar has led the charge, soon followed up.
This sudden counter offensive by the Romans tripled the pressures faced by the Ottoman troops, forcing many Ottoman troopers to stay on the front to yield against this attack while being shocked on how is it possible for the Rumelians to still continue their attacks, after such a long night of fighting. Till this time, no single Ottoman Turk, at least in Europa, still has the stereotype that the Rumelians are a bunch of sheeps that knows nothing but court intrigues.
This bought time for the troops landing on the beaches.
Khalid mobilised the last thirty surviving cavalries he has, together with some nearby veterans, townsmen and villagers who came to aid the battlefield, came back harassing the Ottomans with as much effort as they can put in, this forced the Ottoman cavalries to be recalled from the front to disperse these men, while the Ottoman infantries are forced again to regroup into defensive formations, which again slew themselves down, buying another hour for the landing forces. However, Khalid did again pay his price, the remaining thirty plus men of his are forced to flee in different directions, with the most of them never to be found again. While Khalid too received two new arrows, with one on his back and one on his thigh, in fact Khalid only managed to survive because of his mount, which carried her almost unconscious master all the way back to camp along the trails in the woods.
Love your pals in battle, for they can possibly save your arse in battle.
The situation is clear by now, the Ottomans have lost their chance of stopping the Romans from landing on the beaches.
Halfdan jumped off the boat bare footed, took a breath of the fresh air. He is the last batch to land onto the shores from the convoys organising the different ships making sure that no ship collide with one another creating chaos, for he is the expert when it comes to jobs related with ships. While his colleague Julian is already there awaiting him on the shores, for he is the first to jump onto the shores before all of his soldiers, forming up defensive positions.
"Time for the flare." Halfdan told his guards. "Send my message to all units, there are no time for packing up, we march for Kavala right away."
"Yes sir."
The captain kicked a crab before him away into the seas and took a look at the sun hanging right there over his head to determine the time.
He is not late.
"Come on boys!" Halfdan clapped and shouted out to his men. "We are going to be late! Stop complaining about your protesting stomachs! We Romans are born natural sailors! It is an obligation for you to be adapted to traveling on the waves for serving in the army of the Admiral! Wake up!"
Halfdan pulled a few young men who are there vomiting on the sands by force.
"Come on! Boys! Our comrades need us! The Caesar need us! The empire needs us! Stop whining!"
Although not in a perfect condition, the entire troop still managed to set off in a not so orderly fashion, with most of the soldiers being recruited from the mountains of Epirus and Bulgaria naturally they don’t have that much experience on the seas. If the Ottomans arrived, even if there are only infantries, the Sultan would definitely be able to suppress these landed Romans, but there aren’t, and by the time the troops of Julian and Halfdan has came into contact with the first Ottoman unit, they have regained their strength, and easy like it sounds Julian crashed this Ottoman unit without even the need to stop the march of the troops, while the Ottoman cavalries who finally arrived on the stop will have to face a new group of Roman archers who have a plenty supply of bolts and arrows with them, at least able to stop them from approaching unless if they are willing to die of course.
The young Sultan, Beyezid II, now once again, found himself in the hopeless situation of getting surrounded by enemies from three fronts, with no possible reinforcements coming for them now.
